PUBLIC WORKS— ROADS AXD BRIDGES. 289 



tableland at Moss Vale, where it reaches tlie Main Southern Road and 

 the Great Southern Eailway. The work on this road was of tlie 

 heaviest character, the mountain passes being some 8 miles in length, 

 and it traverses a fertile country which not much more than twenty 

 years ago a horseman could hardly cross with safety in wet weather. 

 North of this there is also a good mail-coach i-oad from Kiama to 

 Moss Vale, and at the northern end of the Illawarra district the most 

 important road of communication is that from the Great Southern 

 Railway at Campbelltown, via Appiu, one of the oldest farming 

 districts in the Colony, and the Bulli Pass. This pass, Avhich was 

 constructed in 18G7, is remarkable for its great natural attractions 

 and wonderful vegetation, and is consequently largely resorted to by 

 tourists, and those in search of the beautiful in nature. The grades 

 of this pass are somewhat severe, being as sharp as 1 in 7 ^ in places. 

 There is also a road from Sydney along the coast to these southern 

 districts called the South Coast Road, which is trafficable by vehicles 

 from the metropolis to as far south as Twofold Bay. All the rivers 

 intervening are either bridged or provided with suitable ferry accom- 

 modation to carry over heavy loads. 



Northward from Sydney one of the roads of most importance is 

 perhaps the North Coast Road, which starts at Hexham on the Hunter 

 River, and passing through Stroud, Taree, Manning River, Port Mac- 

 quarie, Kempsey, Macleay River, Bellingen, Grafton, and Lismore, is 

 available for traffic to Mui-willumbah on the Queensland Boi'der. It 

 is possible, therefore, to travel by road along the coast right from the 

 Victorian to the Queensland Borders, a distance of about 800 miles. 



As in the case of the Southern tableland, the Northern tableland 

 of the Colony, which, roughly speaking, extends from a little below 

 Tamworth to the Queensland Border, is connected with the coast at 

 various intervals. From Ballina, on the Richmond River, a road which 

 crosses the Clarence River at Tabulam, and passes through one of the 

 richest sub-tropical portions of the Colony, connects with Tenterfield. 

 As in the case of most of the roads running from the coast, inland, 

 very heavy work had to be carried out on the mountain passes, 

 the cuttings at Sandylands on this road being especially severe. 

 The formation of the road from Grafton, an important shipping- 

 place on the Clarence River, to Glen Innes, was commenced about 

 1863. This road, Avhicli is commonly known as the Newton Boyd, is 

 one of the largest works of its kind undertaken by the Public Works 

 Department. It consists generally of a series of long heavy mountain 

 cuttings, one of the bluffs being so severe that the expedient of 

 tunnelling on a common road had to be resorted to. This road was 

 followed subsequently by similar roads from Grafton to Armidale, 

 Bellinger to Armidale, which taps the Don Dorrigo Scrub, a district 

 of most wonderful fertility, and from Kempsey, on the Macleay River, 

 to Armidale, the work on the latter being particulai-ly heavy, but the 

 grades have been made comparatively even and easy throughout. 

 Armidale, the centre of the important New England district, is, 

 therefore, connected by excellent roads with the coast at three places, 

 viz., Grafton, Bellinger, and Kempsey. Mention should also be made 

 of the road from Port Macquarie to the New England district, one of 

 the earliest connecting roads made with this district. In former 



